My High School Drug and Alcohol Abuse Class

When I was a sophomore in high school, I enrolled into a substance abuse class. At that age, I did not realize that alcohol abuse in truth was a sub classification of drug abuse. While taking this class and learning more about drug and alcohol abuse and especially about alcohol side effects, I read a lot about Alcoholic Anonymous, their meetings, how their programs have twelve steps, and how successful the Alcoholics Anonymous recovery program has been for individuals all through the world. I also learned a lot about alcohol rehabilitation and the diverse alcohol rehab clinics that are often available to problem drinkers.

Injurious End Results That are Correlated With Alcohol Dependency and Alcohol Abuse

Some of the injurious consequences linked to alcoholism and alcohol abuse that I learned about in this class certainly scared me. The ruined lives and abundant problems experienced by most alcoholics made me feel like I never wanted to drink alcohol when I became old enough. Stated differently, I did not want to face the damage and destruction that alcohol dependent people almost always experience.

Let this sink in for a moment. What fifteen-year-old person wants to face premature death due to his or her drinking behavior? What young person wants to become so out-of-control regarding his or her drinking that consuming alcohol becomes the object of one’s life? What teen wants to go to one of the local alcoholic rehabilitation centers to deal with alcohol-related problems before he or she becomes an adult?

What teenager wants to encounter alcohol withdrawals when he or she tries to quit drinking? Why would a person engage in drinking to such an extent that it would cause problems in every area of his or her life? Drinking later in life after an individual has a career, a family, and develops personal responsibilities makes sense. But why would an adolescent want to sacrifice his or her education, employment, finances, and relationships for a life that focuses on excessive drinking?

These issues were so significant that I talked about some of them in class throughout the school year. What was completely unbelievable to me was the number of students who simply didn’t care about the damaging results of excessive drinking that I talked about. It was almost as if they couldn’t care less about the truth and how these outcomes can shatter their lives. For the first time in my life I started to grasp something that my grandfather used to tell me throughout my younger years: you can lead a horse to water but you can’t force it to drink.

It’s Invigorating, Important, and Beneficial to Keep Away From the Unhealthy and Damaging Effects of Alcohol and Drug Abuse

And even at my young age, I also began to realize how important, beneficial, and enlivening it is in life to stay away from the destructive and unhealthy outcomes of alcohol and drug abuse.